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Last March, Griner sent Tennessee packing with 10 blocks in the Sweet 16 at Memphis.

In Tennessee's first visit to Waco, Griner nearly matched the defensive dominance from the previous meeting. This time, though, she had help from Pope, a 6-1 transfer from Rutgers.

“How many games have you covered when you've seen two girls that can block shots like that?” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey asked reporters. “It's probably rare ... The mobility of these two — they alter the game. (You have players on the other team thinking) ‘I don't know if I want to go in there.'”

While Griner controlled the paint, Baylor's Odyssey Sims won the battle of freshmen point guards as she outdueled former Steele star Meighan Simmons.

Sims scored a season-high 24 points. She held Simmons to four points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half when Baylor (10-1) romped to a 13-point intermission lead.

By the time Simmons got it going in the second half, it was too late for Tennessee (9-2).

Simmons finished with 22 points, but she hit only 6 of 21 from the floor. The Vols' leading scorer for the season also had four turnovers in 35 minutes. Sometimes, it seemed as if she tried to do too much.

Summitt didn't seem to mind.

“I'm never going to fault her for being aggressive,” Summitt said. “She competes. She goes hard on every play. You got to love that. Meighan brings a lot of energy to this team.”

Simmons vowed to take the challenge to play better against Sims should the two meet again.

“Oh, yeah, I'm looking forward to the next couple of years, for sure,” she said. “Playing against her in the summer kind of gave me a heads-up as to what to expect. Odyssey obviously has really gotten better. What that means for me, I've got to get better myself.”

In the first half, Baylor forced Tennessee to misfire on its first eight shots from the field en route to an 8-for-35 opening 20 minutes. Griner blocked six in that stretch and altered several others.

Surprisingly, Baylor led by only two with 6:42 remaining when Vols forward Taber Spani hit a 12-footer off the side. But from there, the Bears went on a 11-0 tear to the intermission buzzer.

Griner scored eight of her 21 points in the run, including two on a textbook, right-handed hook.